How’d They Do That!: What you can learn from Chipotle/Oreo/McDonald’s and More’s Video Campaigns On Vine/YouTube

I suspect that even internet marketers and video content producers watched a little too much television on Thanksgiving. Am I right? According to an article by Jason Lynch in Quartz, “Thanksgiving is a day when more than 100 million Americans will observe the most honored of traditions: gathering with family and friends to watch as many as 15 straight hours straight of TV.”

So, I’m confident that many of us consumed a ton of TV commercials starting at 9:00 a.m. while we were viewing the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Paradeon NBC, or the unofficial coverage of the New York City event, billed as The Thanksgiving Day Parade on CBS. Unfortunately, most advertisers don’t make Thanksgiving ads the way they create Super Bowl commercials, despite the fact that Thanksgiving Day, like Super Bowl Sunday, is one of the few times a year that advertisers can depend on a dedicated, sizable audience that will watch TV.

And we wouldn’t be able to find another brand’s social video to rank third….talk about slim pickings. But, let’s not dwell on this missed opportunity. Instead, let’s take a look at a branded vertical category that remains relevant long after the last leftover has been consumed and the final member of our extended family has gone back home. Today, let’s examine the top 5 food and fast food brands by their total Facebook, Twitter and blog shares throughout 2013.

Fab Five Food and Fast Food Brands

1. Cornetto

With the 5th most shared ad of 2013, and 13th of all time, Unilever’s ice cream brand has been exceptional at cross-platform marketing – utilizing social video and social platforms, including Vine, seamlessly. Cornetto Cupidity series has been extremely effective – creating incredible love stories of everyday people from around the world. This series combined these long-form love stories with music videos from lesser-known artists.

This is where Yalın comes in; with close to 3 million shares and 26.5 million views, the music video not only travelled around the virtual world, but also made the artist himself a household name across Turkey. The love story itself achieved an incredible 144,310 shares itself, making it the fifth most shared of 2013. The series itself continued to perform strongly, with Kismet Diner attracting 140,000 shares, with its companion music video gaining an impressive 88,570 shares.

Cornetto also has an active profile on Vine, with impressive short-form techniques, especially good at stop-motion. Examples below:

2. Chipotle

Having started to make their way over to the UK, the American burrito chain has been a giant in the social video sphere, following on from their incredible Back To The Startcampaign in 2011 and 2012’s Meat Without Drugs, with the unforgettable spot The Scarecrow. Just shy of the year’s top 20 videos, the ad garnered a tidy 452,000 shares and almost 10 million views since its release in September.

Though not equaling the success of their yearly viral installment, Chipotle also achieved 15,600 shares with its self-congratulatory 20-year anniversary spot – with just 25,289 views. Chipotle has also have started to build influence on Instagram Video, with its trailer for The Scarecrowgame, as well as its coverage of a live performance from Walk The Moon.

3. McDonald’s

Unlike Chipotle and Cornetto, McDonald’s takes the third spot through consistency and volume – but still boasts some brilliant stand-out ads. McDonald’s brought in tween heart-throb Austin Mahone into the fold, gaining 40,000 shares with his What About Lovesessions. Their collaboration with YouTube’s Bad Lip Reading channel spawned a hilarious Super Bowl spot, featuring NFL superstars such as Joe Flacco aching for some Mighty Wings. It boasts over 32,500 shares since its September release. Looking like something more at home at the end of Kubric’s 2001: A Space Odyssey than the world of advertising, McDonald’s released a great campaign surrounding their flagship burger, the trusty Big Mac, with Dream racking up the most shares, with over 14,000. McDonald’s is also a strong short-form brand, with some brilliant content, including a 6-second Vine that showed the world how to make fine cuisine with McD’s ingredients and this Toy Story-esque Instagram Video. 4. Oreo

Oreo has had an incredible year in the social space, with multiple brilliant social videos; an incredible presence on both Vine and Instagram; and one of the best real-time pieces of advertising to date during the Super Bowl in NOLA earlier this year.

Not only did Oreo have a good Twitter Super Bowl day, its Whisper Fightvideo also performed pretty well, gaining over 63,000 shares on the World Wide Web. Finally, Oreo showed their musical skills, with collaboration with Owl City for its Wonderfilled Anthem, gaining the brand an extra 29,300 shares towards their impressive 2013 total. Though Oreo has performed well in the social video space, it is on Vine and Instagram where the brand has truly flourished, with an exceptional Halloween campaign, numerous stop-motion tricks and their ever popular #OreoSnackHacks. A few of the best examples are shown below.

So, even if the turkeys created for Thanksgiving 2013 aren’t worth a second look, there’s a parade of great content on YouTube, Instagram and Vine that’s been created by the Fab Five Food and Fast Food Brands. And for that, let us all give thanks.

We’d like to give thanks to Scott Mitchell and Eddie Tomalin of Unruly Media for pulling together this custom set of data for us. Although Thanksgiving isn’t celebrated in the U.K., we’re truly grateful that our Unruly friends in London didn’t tell us what Americans heard on Jimmy Kimmel Live last week in “A Thanksgiving Message from Gary Oldman.”